What is a trademark search?

A trademark search is a search for all trademarks which have been previously filed or registered in the country you are interested in. Trademark searches can be completed officially, conducted by the trademark office, or un-officially conducted on private databases. trademark searches can also have differing scopes depending on the reason for conducting the search. As trademarks are jurisdictional rights, a search is usually conducted at each intellectual property office (IPO) or trademark office (TMO) in each country of interest. Conducting a trademark search at the intellectual property office alone is not sufficient, for a coherent search, one should also check the trademarks in use and not registered, trade names, business names, trade literature etc….